There Will Either Be Two or Zero Teams on 'Hard Knocks' This Year

There are two ways to look at professional sports leagues' bold plans to circumvent a global pandemic and get their respective seasons in. It's either a daring testament to the spirit of human ingenuity or a misguided embrace of unrealistic science fiction being produced to give fans false hope.

But everyone -- including those who provide the ancillary media coverage -- is trying to plan ahead. And eventually those plans may comport with reality, which would be great.

This morning we learn, thanks to Adam Schefter, that NFL Films and HBO are targeting not one, but two teams to appear on Hard Knocks. You know, if and only if training camp happens.

Sources tell the ESPN reporter that the Chargers and Rams will be followed in a supersized version of the popular show. This makes sense as they share a stadium and will be training in close proximity to each other and NFL Films headquarters.

This is all very exciting for fans of football and drama if there is training before a season. Camps were slated to open in mid-July but, obviously, predicting what the world will look like in a few months is a fool's errand at this point.

Considering my considerable pessimism, I look at this leak as a missed opportunity. Why announce a special double album of Hard Knocks when announcing a full anthology could create even more buzz? A sober-minded person can realize there's a very small chance of having to follow through on the content, so why not say the crew will be filming a dozen franchises as they prepare?

The time has never been better to overpromise and underdeliver. I am personally doing it every day at work. All of my big ideas tend to vaporize by noon and no one notices because the world's on fire. Every dark cloud has a silver lining.